Hunted or Busted: A Side Story
Dusted 26: Dreams in The Shadows
This is stupid. Such a dumb and funny idea. Had a writer's block on my other stories and pumped this out in a few hours.
((((((((Hunted))))))))
Blake opened her eyes, trying to remember how she ended up here, and lifted herself up. The young warrior looked around, finding herself in the forest on a pile of leaves. She quickly picked herself up and dusted off her clothes. Noting a leaf still stuck to her person she picked it up and looked down, "Oh what the-"
The black-haired cat Faunus looked down at her changed attire. Instead of her normal black and white clothes, she found herself dressed in a black and grey tunic and wrappings expected for a classic rogue. Instead of Gambol Shroud secured to her back she had two kunai on each hip with a pack of tools on her thigh. She palmed her face, "Ugh, what is this now?"
"Blake!" She looked up in surprise as Naruto came leaping across the branches of the trees towards her. He dove down, grabbed a large branch to bleed off his momentum, and dropped down beside her, "Are you okay? That looked like a pretty bad fall."
"Naruto?" She looked her whiskered friend over and saw him dressed in a similar garb to her. He looked like a true, authentic ninja from the stories and his clothes looked tailored made for espionage and subterfuge. The only thing that betrayed that image was the bright orange color and blue highlights it had in contrast to her black and grey, "Are - are you a ninja?"
"What kinda question is that? Of course I am! We both are!" The fox boy looked around warily and drawing his kunai, "And we're in the middle of a mission! C'mon, Sun's intercepting the caravan now!"
"Sun?" Blake questioned as Naruto leapt off the ground and into the trees in a single move. Impressed by his mobility, Blake jumped on her feet a few times and quickly gave chase after her friend. She was surprised to find that she could move so easily in this new attire and followed after Naruto before they reached a crossing dirt path.
In the middle of the dirt road was a carriage being driven by a group of servants while guarded by a team of samurai. Right now the samurai were being warded off and attacked by a yellow blur dashing between them while spreading sparks in every direction. The monkey-tailed ninja attacking nervously chuckled as his bright yellow attire flapped open around his chest.
Blake sighed, "Okay now what ninja fights bare-chested? Seriously, I have to suspend my disbelief with this one."
"Guys!" Sun called out as he blocked a katana swing with his kunai while ducking under a samurai's arm, "Could use some help!" His tail coiled around the arm and he struck out with a mule kick to double the samurai over. Sun immediately rolled over the bent samurai's back and tossed several shuriken towards his enemies, "More guys here than the intel specified!"
"We're coming buddy!" Naruto leapt off the last branch and sailed through the air before spinning and slamming his feet on the back of a samurai's head. As the samurai dropped and Naruto landed by Sun's side the two blondes drew their weapons and prepared to hold off the armed forces around them, "Blake! Get to the lord! You have to take his scroll!"
Blake quickly made a beeline towards the carriage. There were several samurai in her way that tried to stop her but with a few quick parries, a slide under their guards, and some quick acrobatics she landed by the carriage and looked inside.
"H-Heavens!" Jacques Schnee, the arrogant and haughty ruler of the area, shirked back in shock and covered the paper scroll he had furled up to his chest, "Begone you ruffian! You shall not have the secrets to our business and that is final!"
…
"So this has to be a dream." Blake noted to herself with a shrug of her shoulders, "No way Jacques Schnee would let himself be carried around on ground level. Well good to clear that up."
Without hesitation Blake reached in and yanked the scroll away before stuffing it in her pack for safe-keeping. As she snatched it out of Jacques' hands he squealed in fright like a child before waving his finger at her, "See here you despicable ninja! I shall have all your heads for this! Not only do you rob our supply chains and undermine my authority, but you kidnapped my daughter and brainwashed her into your numbers! I will never forgive you people for that!"
Blake paused and thought for a moment. If she was dreaming she could do whatever she wanted to this smug bastard for all the terrible crap he had done to Faunus around the world since before she was born. However even if this was a dream she didn't feel comfortable tormenting the father of her teammate and friend. So instead…she compromised.
Blake's leg lashed out and kicked Jacques straight in the chest and caused the mustached man to gag and flail in his pillows. The black-haired ninja slipped out of the carriage and ran out to a safe distance. She saw many of the samurai on the ground beaten with Naruto and Sun panting while holding their ground, "Guys! I've got it! Let's go!"
"Thank god!"
"It was fun guys! Later!"
Naruto and Sun both tossed smoke bombs that popped and covered them as they escaped. Blake spotted them emerge from the top of the smoke cloud and quickly followed after them. After they had charged through the trees for nearly ten minutes and left samurai in the dust they slowed down. Sun landed on a branch and leaned back on the tree as he caught his breath, "Thanks for finally managing to catch up guys!"
"Sorry about that." Naruto apologized to their tired friend, "Blake took a tumble and I had to go back to make sure she was okay."
"Oh." Sun suddenly stopped trying to milk the sympathy and looked at her with concern, "You okay?"
Blake nodded. Honestly she didn't know if she tripped or hurt herself because she woke up in this dream already on the ground, "Just a little dazed." She decided to say instead to avoid any problems messing with the dream. If she started mention it was a dream then things could start really going off the rails. Instead she decided to play along and drew out the scroll they had procured, "This was what we wanted, right?"
She tossed the scroll over and Naruto caught it before pulling it open. Sun leaned in by his side to look as both blonds grinned with accomplishment, "Alright!" They shared a quick high five and bumped chests - seriously nothing about this was how ninja acted - in celebration, "With this we'll be one step closer to toppling that snooty prick's control!"
"Go team!" Sun cheered with the same amount of enthusiasm he had in the real world. Blake could only roll her eyes in response before they started making their way back to their village. As they made their way home, Sun looked back at her with a hint of hesitation before speaking up, "Hey Blake?"
"Yes?"
"We did a pretty good job getting that scroll back and sticking it to Weiss' dad, right?"
"I suppose so."
"And since this was such a good job then maybe we should celebrate?" Sun awkwardly shrugged, "So how about when we get back we…train together?"
Blake raised her brow in response to his odd inquiry. But what surprised her more was Naruto's animated and shocked response, "What?! You can't be serious?!" The whiskered fox marched up to his monkey friend and the previous camaraderie seemed to vanish as he scowled straight into his face, "You sonuvabitch! I can't believe you're pulling this shit!"
"Hey man we finished the mission! We completed it! We made it out safe! You agreed once that happened we could ask her!"
"Yeah but I thought the unwritten rule was that we'd wait until we at least got back to the village!" Naruto snarled as Sun glared back at him, "Not seconds after we finished the job with your shirt open and covered in sweat you damn snake!" He roughly pushed Sun aside and faced Blake directly, "Blake, I'd really like to train with you myself."
"Oh you hypocrite!"
Naruto hissed back at Sun before ignoring him entirely to face her, "I swear our training will be so much better than his! I'm attentive and hard-working and I don't show it off like he does but I'm fit!"
"Ha! Fit?!" Sun marched up and glared Naruto down as he opened his shirt up further, "Do you really think you can match up to this?"
"You two are acting really weird." Blake noted as her two friends threatened and argued with each other. The cat Faunus rolled her eyes, "Look why don't we just train together if you two are going to complain about turns."
Her answer floored them as they abandoned their animosity and looked at her with wide eyes. Their shock and disbelief was too much as she shook her head and sighed, "Can we just head back now? I wanna see the village again."
((((((((Hunted))))))))
She had to pat herself on the back for making such a detailed dream. Their ninja village was a mix of ancient village settlements depicted in movies designed with the buildings of Beacon in mind. A tall tower that acted as the center of the village appeared to be their destination.
"Well - uh - we'll trust you to deliver the good news to the head honcho."
"Yeah and we'll…" Naruto and Sun shared an awkward look between each other before looking back at her, "See you later for training?"
"Right. I'll see you both later." Blake waved them off before she made her way towards the central tower. She could still feel her two friends standing behind her muttering to each other and trying to work things out. Okay maybe her dreaming could use a little fine-tuning because her friends weren't nearly this weird-
…
Actually they might be closer than she'd like to admit.
As she walked through her dreamy construction of a ninja village she noticed there were mixes of Vale, Beacon, but also Menagerie. An unbalanced hodgepodge of brick and mortar stores along with bazaar stands inhabited by humans and Faunus alike. Among the people were students of Beacon and the other schools visiting, with teachers and students and even CFVY noticing her walk by and waving to her as she did.
As she walked though she realized she felt someone's gaze linger on her. Turning back Blake used her honed and developed senses to try and discover who it was that was tailing her.
She realized she probably didn't have to try too hard because a head of dark red hair was popping up behind a sign.
"Ruby?" Her tail flinched and gasped when Blake called her name, "Is that you?"
"Dang." Ruby popped out completely with a defeated sigh. Her young leader was dressed in a similar red attire - and honestly looked pretty cute with how big it looked on her. The young redhead pouted as she walked over, "How did you spot me?"
"Your hair was sticking out."
"Oh man!" Ruby immediately patted down her hair in hopes that it would stay matted forever. But after she did it immediately returned to its usual volume and she groaned, "Man, it's so not fair. I always hit my targets and I usually tail things easily in practice but every time I do it in the field I always slip up!" The younger girl groused, "I'm just a little bit off with my throwing or I reveal something just a bit early and it messes everything up!"
Blake felt sorry for her friend, "Maybe you need a little more practice?.
"No what I need is training!" Ruby said with a frown and crossed arms, "I bet if I finally had some then I'd get a lot better." Really? If all her practice wasn't turning out results then she wasn't sure more training would suddenly solve everything, "But I never get to train with anybody because they always stick to their groups! It's so not fair!"
"We'll I'm training with Sun and Naruto later. You can join us if you want." Blake offered to her friend. She kept walking before she noticed that Ruby had left her side and stood still a few feet back.
The silver-eyed girl was staring at her with eyes the size of plates as she gulped, "Y-Y-You want me to join you three in a," She sweated, "Training session?"
Blake nonchalantly nodded, "Yeah, if you want."
"I-Isn't that like a lot of people? L-Like I'm not sure if that many people should train at once?"
Blake shrugged, "In my experience training is better when you have more people. With more people you can figure out what you're missing and need to improve." She offered helpfully, "If you want you can train with them while I watch from the side to see what you can improve in."
Ruby stared at her in shock. Her eyes opened and closed a few times before she muttered, "I-I'm - I'm gonna go get washed first. B-Before we train t-together?"
Blake looked at her quizzically, "Why? Seems like a waste of time. I mean you're gonna be sweaty and dirty once it's finished again anyway-"
"I'm gonna get washed!" Ruby squealed and threw a smoke bomb down at her feet. However in a frenzy she ran forward and knocked into Blake before squeaking and running in the opposite direction. The cat Faunus could only watch her retreating friend's back before she disappeared completely. She was even a weird girl in her dreams.
Blake continued on for awhile before she heard her name, "Blake! Wait up!" She turned back and saw Weiss in a light blue ninja attire while Sasuke followed behind her in a grey outfit instead, "I didn't know you got back from your mission already. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."
"We got what we wanted without much worry." Blake showed off the scroll to her friends, "But your father did have some choice words for us. Not happy you're on our side by the way."
Weiss scoffed and petulantly crossed her arms as Sasuke gave a small smile to her attitude, "Hmph! I told him directly to his face that I was leaving and joining the ninja cause! And he thought I had been brainwashed! Well let that old fool think whatever he wants." She proudly placed a hand on her chest, "I've already climbed the ranks and become one of the best ninjas this village has to offer!"
Blake chuckled, admiring her friend's confidence whether it was in her dream or the real world, "Kind of a bold statement, don't you think?"
"Not at all." Weiss haughtily said, "Sasuke and I have been enhancing our abilities and improving our results with consistent training."
"As often as we can for as long as possible." Sasuke said, "The results have been pretty evident in our missions. We were planning to train again later." Weiss giggled and wrapped her hair around her finger as he spoke, "Now that Lord Schnee has been raided we can expect our future missions to become more difficult."
Weiss nodded, "You might want to think about getting some training in Blake before we're sent off again."
"Yeah. I'll be training with Naruto, Sun, and Ruby later."
They stared at her in surprise as Weiss whispered, "With…all three?"
"Yeah. Do you two want to join us? Give us a peek at your super skills?" Blake offered with a slight smirk at her challenging offer.
The Uchiha and Schnee pair stood silently before looking at each other. Weiss stuttered, "D-Do you?"
"Do you?"
"W-Why would you ask me?!"
"You don't look like you're against it."
As the duo argued and barked at each other Blake realized she was probably wasting too much time. She dashed through the street and avoided running into any passerby with some excellent acrobatics. As she reached the central tower she spotted some other ninjas going through their work and greeted them politely. And they pointed her in the direction of their leader's base of operations.
"Heya Blake!" Nora greeted her on the stairs while she was making her way down. The bright pink ninja was followed by Ren and Kiba as the bubbly girl grinned, "How was the mission? Did you fight any samurai? How many samurai did you kill? How many orphans did you make?"
"Nora." Ren quickly pulled his friend back before her line of questioning could get any more intense, "Sorry, we just got back from our assignment as well and she's fairly-"
"Amped up." Kiba piped in when his friend struggled to find the best term, "So we were going to get something to eat, do some training, and then call it a day."
"You three train together?"
"Kinda?" Nora wiggled her hand, "I train with Ren sometimes, and then I train with Kiba other times." The orange-haired girl giggled to herself, "It's fun all around."
Nora was certainly energetic but training with her was probably as exhausting as it was in the real world. Blake looked between the two boys, "Why don't you guys train with each other too?"
Nora turned to look at them curiously as they looked between each other, "Uh…no."
"No."
"No way."
"Nope."
"Never."
"We'll except for that one time-"
"But after that one time-"
"Never again."
As the two shook their heads and denied the idea, Nora giggled and whispered to her, "It was so much fun."
"Heh, alright." Blake found Nora's amusement infectious and laughed, "Well a bunch of us are training later if you three want to join us."
"Now that sounds like a fun time!"
((((((((Hunted))))))))
As Blake made her way to the top of the tower she saw a familiar figure standing outside the doors ready to enter as well. The golden ninja noticed her approach and greeted her with a smirk, "Looks like things went pretty well for you guys, huh?"
Blake smiled at seeing her partner so casually wearing her bright subterfuge outfit, "Hey Yang. How was your mission?"
"Ren was a bastion of calm, Kiba was wild as hell, Nora was impossible to control, and I was the glue that pulled all the pieces together. So of course it went without a hitch." She bragged with an inflated ego, "You made it back so I guess things went well, huh? Did Weiss' dad give you the whole spiel again about giving her back?"
"I didn't wait to hear him go off. I turned and knocked him over with a mule kick before running away."
Yang laughed, "Damn I wish I could've seen that!" A faint wind wafted over them and Yang must've seen that as the signal for them to come in. She pushed the doors open as Blake followed behind her, "Hey there Boss, we come bearing gifts!"
Ozpin was kneeling on an assortment of beautiful pillows in front of a desk only a foot off the ground. It reminded her of the dining table she and her parents used to eat snacks and drink tea from when they sat together. The white-haired leader looked up as they approached, "Ah, Blake and Yang. Two of our brightest ninja this generation. I hear you come with gifts?"
Yang pulled out an ornamental kunai, "Here you are! The blade offered by our sister tribe from Haven! With our help they've been able to secure a more stable route for supplies and have offered their loyalty and friendship."
Ozpin graciously took the weapon before turning to Blake. She pulled out the scroll and placed it on the desk in front of him, "Intelligence and plans prepared by Jacques Schnee for taking control of this land. With this we'll be able to intercept his forces and take back the supplies he's stolen."
"Excellent work both of you." The elderly leader bowed his head and they responded in kind, "This will be exactly the turn in the fight we needed. Thank you both for your work, and thank your teams as well. Take some time off and prepare yourselves for the battle ahead."
Yang scoffed and leaned into her ear, "Bet money he"s gonna tell us to train as much as possible."
"Of course you need to train!" Ozpin exclaimed with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, "Training is the most important part of being a ninja! Why back in my day I would train for days on end for the sake of the village."
Yang rolled her eyes, "Got it Boss. Look I'm always up for a training now and then, but telling us it's what we need to focus on is a little creepy." Yang nudged her arm, "Plus some of us don't even train, right?"
That was a presumptuous claim to make. How could she have gotten as fast and agile in her dream if she hadn't practiced and honed her technique. Blake crossed her arms and smirked, "Actually I have a training session after this. I invited a bunch of our friends to join in. Even Ruby will be joining us."
"Oh well congrats. I guess every wallflower blooms eventually huh? Well I sure hope you have - WAIT!" Yang's eyes immediately burst red, "MY SISTER?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
"Yes, she really wants to train. Why don't you join us Yang and you can see her progress for yourself?"
…
Yang paled, "But - but she's my sister."
"Yes and I'm sure she'd be happy to have you there with her."
Yang blinked repeatedly, "A-Are you serious? I mean I knew she had a few self-esteem issues but training with me?"
"My god. It's happening." Ozpin muttered to himself, "I thought I had set the limit with five training partners at once. But so many - and so causally?! The prophecy is almost fulfilled!"
…
Her dream versions were a lot zanier than the real people as loathe as she was to admit that. Maybe her imagination was wilder than she expected.
((((((((Hunted))))))))
Blake had returned to her to her quarters and enjoyed the rest of her dream as much as she could. The calm and serene location of a quiet ninja village. The beautiful sight of the sun setting over the vast expanse of forest. If she could have a good book to read on top of all this then she might have to make lucid dreaming a new hobby of hers.
Noting how the sun was touching the horizon Blake decided it was time to head out to train with her friends. She honestly expected to find Pyrrha, Tenten, and Jaune around somewhere in the village to complete the ensemble but apparently they were off doing their own training.
It sounded like the three of them trained nearly 24/7. They must have needed it badly.
As Blake headed for her door and stepped out, she was surprised to see all her friends nervously stand outside her door. As they shuffled and struggled to keep eye contact with her - except for Nora who was basically bouncing with excitement - Blake nodded, "Oh, you guys got here right on time. So are we going to train?"
Naruto slightly shrugged, "I mean we're all here so…I guess we're ready to do this."
"Excellent." Blake made her way out the door-
"W-Wait. Where are you going?"
"To train." Blake obviously stated, "I think maybe a big field or clearing would be the best place to-"
"No!" Weiss exclaimed, quickly rushing into Blake's body and pushing her back into her apartment as the others stepped in, "I-I keep getting dragged along by the sheer audacity of these requests b-but no more!" She squeaked, "I draw the line here! If we're doing this then we're training in your room."
Blake looked around, "It's kind of small, isn't it?"
"That may be but we'll make do!" Weiss exclaimed before turning to the others, "Come on everyone! Let's get started!"
Weiss pulled down her pants to reveal her fudoshi and then pulled off her top to reveal the wrappings covering her chest.
Blake blanked when she saw that, "Wha-"
The others quickly followed after her. Soon articles of clothing were littering her floor as every girl was reduced to their wrapping and the boys were in much the same state.
Weiss and Sasuke drew in close to each other and embraced as they shared a deep, passionate kiss. Just a few steps away Nora was being undressed as she shared a kiss with Ren and turned her head to do the same with Kiba. And her line of sight was blocked as Ruby, Yang, Sun, and Naruto approached her.
As her face went as red as the setting sun she panicked, "W-What are you doing?!"
"Training of course."
"This is training?!"
"Y-Yeah Blake," Ruby whispered in a quiet voice, "This is how we grow stronger and more capable. It's the only way the Ninjas of Love can become better."
…
Oh, she'd fallen asleep reading Ninjas of Love.
Oh, training was a thinly veiled euphemism.
Oh…dear god what had she done.
"H-Hold on there's been a mistake!" Blake tried to rationalize as she felt someone pull on her pants, "Now wait a moment!" Someone pulled on her wrapping under her clothes, "Seriously can we just stop and - Ah~!"
Someone nibbled her ears.
A pair of hands ran over her body.
Blake felt her knees lose strength as she was touched.
Her resistances slowly fluttered away as her clothes joined one pile and she joined the other.
((((((((Hunted))))))))
Blake woke up in a start. Escaping her dream just before anything got out of hand. Her book was resting on her chest and her teammates were still fast asleep in the late hours of the night.
…
Maybe she'd get to go back if she fell asleep quickly?
And she did just that.
((((((((Hunted))))))))
The morning sun slowly started to rise up over the school. The early hours of the day were finally arriving. Yet the team of girls slept soundly in their beds.
Until a bucket of water was dumped on Yang.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The blonde cried out in frozen anguish as she flailed around in her wet blanket like a madwoman, "SON OF A WHOOOOOOOOOOOORE!"
"AH! WHAT?! WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"What's all the noise for?!"
Yang, Ruby, and Weiss all tried to understand why they were suddenly woken up and looked down between their beds. They saw Blake standing fully dressed with a bucket in her hands.
Yang's eyes turned red as steam ran off her head, "You have three seconds and then I kill you slowly!"
"I kept trying to tell you the shower was open for you to use but you didn't hear me." The Faunus casually said as she lowered the bucket, "You said you like to get in the shower as early as possible so you can work on your hair and give the others the time they need too, right?"
"Yeah! Early! But not so early we're still sleeping!" Yang snarled as she jumped off her bed and shook herself like a shaggy dog. Her teammates protected themselves from the flying water bullets as the blonde looked over herself, "God did you have to make it ice cold?!"
"Would you have woken up for anything less?"
"Yes! Very easily!" Ruby looked like she wanted to dispute that but when her older sister glared at her she clamped her mouth shut. Yang shuddered, "This sucks!"
"Oh Yang, look at that." Blake immediately turned to her bed and shook her head, "The water got on my bed. Now it's soaked."
"Yeah! That's what happens when you pour water on something over something else! It drips down! That's physics!"
"Guess I'll have to wash my sheets." Blake said as she pulled her bed apart, "No helping that."
"At least wash my sheets too!" Yang complained before she shivered, "Ah! Getting colder! Getting colder!" Yang grabbed her top and pulled it off over her head, "Cold! Cold! Better."
"Oh, Yang! C'mon!" Ruby blocked her line of sight as her sister went topless."
Weiss looked away, "Have some shame!"
"What? We're all girls. It's nothing you've never seen before. Well maybe not as great as these mind you." Yang said topless with a quick shiver. She then noticed Blake staring at her quietly for a moment, "What is it?"
"I was actually a lot closer to the real thing then I gave myself credit for."
"What?"
"Nothing." Blake deflected as she walked out the door.
Ruby still avoided looking directly at Yang as she looked under her bed, "Was Blake acting weird?"
"Of course she was. Didn't you notice?" Weiss nodded.
"Notice what?"
"The water dripping down from Yang's bed got the sides of Blake's bed wet. That didn't account for the stain in the middle."
…
"Dammit!" Yang exclaimed in anger, "Why is it always me that has to deal with the fallout when you bitches have wild and crazy dreams?! That's it! It's my turn next! And you're all gonna suffer! You hear me! Suffer!"
"Yang put on a shirt you're gonna poke someone's eyes out."
((((((((Hunted))))))))
Done
Blake joins the ranks of dense harem anime protagonists, but then subverts expectations by having a big sex party in her room! Yay!
God what's wrong with me. I should be using this side story for developing the past of my world or imagining alternate futures. Instead of making horny dream scenarios, and imagining what it would be like if Salem's crew were as dysfunctional as the Always Sunny gang.
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